Confused Sindhi

[ajt52]

I've been looking on the internet for a couple of Pakistani forums, and chanced upon this one. I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but anyway..

My grandparents were Hindu Sindhis from pre-partition British India, and they remained in Sindh after the partition, but they emigrated to the US a few years later citing violence towards the Hindus and an unstable environment. My mother was born in the States, and she married a guy (my father) from the Sindhi community. I was born in the early 90's in an English speaking household. My parents are proficient in Sindhi, but I never really picked it up because of the environment (you'd be hard-pressed to find any Sindhi speakers in the U.S.) and my lack of interest in the language.

I've started taking a keen interest in my heritage as of late, but the thing is that I realised that I don't really have a 'homeland'. My family's from Sindh, but they were ostracised in the years after the partition and made to leave. I guess I have more in common with India than with Pakistan because I happen to speak Hindi well, but I have no relatives in India or any other connection to the country. I don't identify with Pakistan either for obvious reasons (my grandparents went through a lot at the hands of its people... and besides, isn't Islam an integral part of the Pakistani identity? How/where do I fit in?). I don't really know how to classify myself and I know it doesn't really matter in the 21st century, but I'm kind of in the midst of an identity crisis. so yeah. any people in my position? I'd love to hear from you guys. Like if I were to visit Pakistan someday, would I be considered a part of the community despite my faith? If I were to visit India, would I be considered Indian or the Indian equivalent of a muhajir but from Pakistan? My parents and I have always identified as 'Indian' for identification purposes, although considering that Sindh is in Pakistan, that term is a bit ambiguous because it does not really cover me.

 

[insaf-seeker]

There are thousands of hindu living in sindh and you can visit your community.

 

[Vitamin_C]

There are still alot of Hindu Sindhis in Sindh. Hindus are very respected in Sindh, especially if they are Sindhi. Sindhi generally indentify more with Sindh and the culture than they do with Islam. Dont confuse Sindh with what you see on media about Pakistan. Sindh is very different, there is no religious extremism or fundamentalism or polarization there and people are more secular. My advice if you want to know more probably not a good idea to listen to people here as not many people from interior Sindh, just go visit Larkana, Qasimabad area of Hyderabad, Jamshoro you will find alot of educated sindhis there aswel as foreigners from middle east and africa. I think mehran university in jamshoro also has sindheology department where you can learn alot.
I have many Hindu Sindhi friends in Pakistan, in Sindhis we do not even care anymore who is Hindu or Muslim its all the same when they speak the same language. Goodluck.

 

[jamalkhan]

You are american bro ..... if your father is from pakistan ur from pakistan .. if he is from india ur indian simple no science at all .... i think you are free these days .. you should start doing workout then you will not have time for this this kind of stuff .. eat, sleep and repeat :)

 

[PUNJABIMUNDANO1]

Brother!

Punjabies or Sindhis whether they are Muslims, Hindus or Christians or living in India or Pakistan are ethnically and racially Indians!
Why u r worried about your identity, Your Identity is American and you should be proud of it!

Anyway, there are about 4 million Hindus in Pakistan and all of them are living in Sindh, Tharparkar region is almost majority Hindu region in Sindh, I visited Sindh few years back, The cities of Mitti, Jhandu , Nagarparkar and Umerkot are dominated by Hindus!

I will advise u to visit Sindh and experience amazing Hindu culture in Sindh! Sindhi society is very tolerant towards Hindus and their culture, u will be amazed to see that even the Muslim Sindhis will greet u by Folding Hands. Being a Punjabi, It was also a surprise for me that Muslim Sindhis still use Hindu greetings!

Because of Muhajir, Punjabi and Pathan settlements in Sindh , Sindhi Muslims consider themselves more closer to Sindhi Hindus than to their Muslim brothers of other ethnicities!
So u can visit Sindh without any fear, actually Sindhi Muslims will welcome u!
and beware rural Sindh is very notorious for Dacoit Gangs!

 

[Vitamin_C]

by the way it was not Sindhis who forced Hindu Sindhis to leave partition, rather it was muhajirs coming from India, who had faced artocracies while fleeing from India take out their anger on Hindu Sindhis in Urban Sindh ans most Hindu Sindhis were very educated Urban city dwelers but in outside areas they were protected by Muslim Sindhis.
my Grandmother was Sindhi from Larkana city and she told me hindus and sindhis lived side by side in peace before partition. They would celebrate Hindu traditions together and during Ramadan during the night Hindu girls would go to the mosques and light diyas there for the convenience of worshippers.

 

[baaghi01]

You are american bro ..... if your father is from pakistan ur from pakistan .. if he is from india ur indian simple no science at all .... i think you are free these days .. you should start doing workout then you will not have time for this this kind of stuff .. eat, sleep and repeat :)

This is a complicated topic, its not as simple as u think it is. You cant understand identity crisis issue if you don't live abroad. simply stay away if u cant help him.

 

[hkniazi]

by the way it was not Sindhis who forced Hindu Sindhis to leave partition, rather it was muhajirs coming from India, who had faced artocracies while fleeing from India take out their anger on Hindu Sindhis in Urban Sindh ans most Hindu Sindhis were very educated Urban city dwelers but in outside areas they were protected by Muslim Sindhis.
my Grandmother was Sindhi from Larkana city and she told me hindus and sindhis lived side by side in peace before partition. They would celebrate Hindu traditions together and during Ramadan during the night Hindu girls would go to the mosques and light diyas there for the convenience of worshippers.

NO.........as a matter of fact it were those sindhi muslims, waderas (the landlords, feudals) to be precise, who started with this hindu muslim hatred and actually kicked out the hindus out of Sindh. The reason behind that was that due to their own lavish lifestyle of copying the gora saheb, they ended up mortgaging their lands to the hindu baniyas. for them the only way to get their acres back was to kick those baniyas out in the name of religion. sorry bro, the reality is harsh but it is what it is. A perfect example for you is, look at them now, they haven't learned a bit from their mistakes.

 

[samsixtyone]

O, son of indus, come back home. land of sufi and saints.

 

[supers On]

There are alot of Hindu Sindhis in Sindh, they are more respected than muslims because they dont cheat like muslims, being a sindhi is one thing, a sindhi can be further divided into a muslim sindhi or hindu sindhi in Pakistan.

 

[PUNJABIMUNDANO1]

O, son of indus, come back home. land of sufi and saints.

Sufi, saints and Bhagats!

 

[GreenMaple]

Your father being originally from Sindh, Pakistan entitles you to Pakistani citizenship as a child of Pak citizen. India will not grant you its citizenship based on your family links.
So basically your roots are in Pakistan. Now as far treatment of Hindus in Pakistan, yes there are some issues in some places specifically in Sindh, but generally it is not as bad as it appears from outside. Hindus freely celebrate their festival and practice their faith without any fear of persecution from the authorities. I suggest you visit your relatives at least once in Pakistan and find the situation for yourself. Your may be pleasantly surprised; most of Indians do when they visit Pakistan for the first time. I am not saying things are perfect but Pakistanis are generally lot more tolerant towards other faiths compared to attitude of Hindus in India towards minorities there.

 

[Afaq Chaudhry]

My grandparents were Hindu Sindhis from pre-partition British India, and they remained in Sindh after the partition, but they emigrated to the US a few years later citing violence towards the Hindus and an unstable environment.

What you mentioned here, its not true, its might possible some kind of reaction , some where after the partition, when tens of thousands muslims were killed by Sikhs and Hindus while they were migrating to Pakistan,in Sindh a lot of hindu families are living with peace and paying their positive role as a true Pakistanis, regarding India for the last 67 years athousands of Muslims were killed in India even moques were burnt, so comparing with Pakistan , Pakistan is heaven for minorities. we have some problems but we hope to solve them soon.
You are Pakistani and you have all rights in Pakistan.

 

[hkniazi]

@the thread starter

My friend, I got a good news and I got a bad news for you.


I am kind of a "pessimistic", so I will start from a bad news. The bad news is that in pakistan there is nothing for you. There could have have been something for you if we could time travel back to 50's, 60's or 70's era but it aint for sure now. Even if somehow you will delude yourself to a belief that you somehow belong here and you can come and settle here, a time will come when you will regret that decision.


Now the good news is, times are changing. It takes little long in our part of the world, but we are also prone to changes.


looking at your age mentioned above, if its correct, you have got a life long enough to make decisions more sensibly and efficiently. go to university make something out of it. later on you can come here anytime.

 

[PUNJABIMUNDANO1]

What you mentioned here, its not true, its might possible some kind of reaction , some where after the partition, when tens of thousands muslims were killed by Sikhs and Hindus while they were migrtingto Pakistan,in Sindh a lot of hindu families are living with peace and paying their positive role as a true Pakistanis, regarding India for the last 67 years athousands of Muslims were killed in India even moques were burnt, so comparing with Pakistan , Pakistan is heaven for minorities. we have some problems but we hope to solve them soon.
You are Pakistani and you have all rights in Pakistan.

Minorities have no rights in Pakistan whatsoever! Anyway it was not only Hindus or Sikhs who were killing Muslims, Muslim Punjabis also eliminated Hindus and Sikhs form the land of Five Rivers!
Zia Sahab! Kabi Taasub Ki Anaak AuTar Ker Bhi koi Comment ker Dia Karn App!

 

[drmanzoormian]

How to define and identify your roots for people living in foreign lands.


It is in reply to Mr Ajit's post of "Confused Sindi" looking for help in identifying his roots.

Mr Ajit your confusion has risen from the multiple experiences of the most harsh,
horrific and stressful nature your grand parents had to go through.
In today's fast changing and shrinking world new societies, nations are being synthasised from new realities and compulsions.
Migrations and extensive travels in search of opportunities and better life have gone beyond communities, cities and borders.
It is hard to find any more monolithic society. Lot of old cliches have become irrelevant and meaningless.
Typical meaning of " roots" ,"I D" also seems to have gone through face lift.

However, I believe more than any thing it is your ancesteral language
known as mother tongue connected with the place of birth makes you who you are.
Any body living any where can have any Religion. Muslims from India or for that purpose Pakistani
living in Arab speaking Arabic will not become Saudi/Egyptian or Arabi.
Similarly any one speaking Panjabi living in Panjab without fine skills of relevant cultural insights, social affinities
required to enjoy the local humor, sensitivities can' t become Panjabi. In other words, ones identity is based on many things like place of birth, mother tongue, cultural as well as social connections, your willingness to attach yourself with whatever roots.
Religion / faith is not even the least of the factor and it should not be your roots I D process.
Personal experiences no matter how bad, bitter and ugly can't delineate you from the essentials of who and what you are.

Your grand parents experiences though very unfortunate and ugly, were based on inherent intolerance imbedded in every religion.
Therefore, religion/faith can't be part of your identification.

 

[Vitamin_C]

YES

How is it a fact? Any newspaper articles from that time? It sounds like a fairy tale to me. As Hindus were not a minority in Urban areas prior to partition, they held more power as they were better educated and wealthy businessmen. Infact in Rural areas their populations did not fall as much as the Urban areas such as Karachi and Hyderabad because of the violence of Muslims migrating for India. Hindhus were 64% population of Urban Sindh and atleast 25% population of Karachi.
I cant link journal articles because they may not be accessible to you. But Ill post some wikipedia links and you can search the articles from there.

Before 1947 however, other than a few Gujarati speaking Parsees (Zorastrians) living in Karachi, virtually all the inhabitants were Sindhis, whether Muslim or Hindu at the time of Pakistan's independence, 75% of the population were Muslims and almost all the remaining 25% were Hindus.

The Cities and towns of Sindh were dominated by the Hindus. In 1941, for example, Hindus were 64% of the total urban population.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sindhi_people

Hindu Sindhis were expected to stay in Sindh following Partition, as there were good relations between Hindu and Muslim Sindhis. At the time of Partition there were 1,400,000 Hindu Sindhis, though most were concentrated in cities such as Hyderabad,Karachi, Shikarpur, and Sukkur. However, because of an uncertain future in a Muslim country, a sense of better opportunities in India, and most of all a sudden influx of Muslim refugees from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajputana (Rajasthan) and other parts of India, many Sindhi Hindus decided to leave for India.
Problems were further aggravated when incidents of violence instigated by Muslim refugees broke out in Karachi and Hyderabad. According to the 1951 Census of India, nearly 776,000 Sindhi Hindus fled to India.[SUP][46][/SUP] Unlike the Punjabi Hindus and Sikhs, Sindhi Hindus did not have to witness any massive scale rioting; however, their entire province had gone to Pakistan and thus they felt like a homeless community.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_of_India#Sindh

The last one said that half of the 1.4m Hindu Sindhis fled after 1947, since they were atleast 25% of Karachi population and 64% Urban Sindh in general, its obvious that most of not all migrated from Karachi and Hyderabad, as other cities in interior Sindh still are home to hundreds of thousands of Hindu Sindhis. Why did those supposed mortgagees only target Hindus in Karachi and Hyderabad mostly? What about Shikarpur and Mirpur, Sanghar, Badin... was it same mortagees who dislodged people from there aswel or some others? What you said is very vague has no factual evidence and does not even make sense, Please share some journal articles/links/newspaper articles to support your claim that Muslim Sindhis who signed mortgage papers were responsible for violence against Hindus in Sindh and not the Muslims migrating from India Thanks.

NO.........as a matter of fact it were those sindhi muslims, waderas (the landlords, feudals) to be precise, who started with this hindu muslim hatred and actually kicked out the hindus out of Sindh. The reason behind that was that due to their own lavish lifestyle of copying the gora saheb, they ended up mortgaging their lands to the hindu baniyas. for them the only way to get their acres back was to kick those baniyas out in the name of religion. sorry bro, the reality is harsh but it is what it is. A perfect example for you is, look at them now, they haven't learned a bit from their mistakes.

 

[jamalkhan]

o bhai he have identity .. he is american ..... ab aur kia chaiyeah .... ab awain pare lak..i lainay ka kia faida .... pak ka sun kai to 4 shareef admi aap ko akaila chor kai bhag jatay hai wo sochtay hai kai pata nahi kub phut jaye yeah phar dai

 

[Afaq Chaudhry]

Minorities have no rights in Pakistan whatsoever! Anyway it was not only Hindus or Sikhs who were killing Muslims, Muslim Punjabis also eliminated Hindus and Sikhs form the land of Five Rivers!
Zia Sahab! Kabi Taasub Ki Anaak AuTar Ker Bhi koi Comment ker Dia Karn App!

I know very well why you say this, i never said, but its true that more then one million muslims were killed at the time of partition, the thread starter is just confused and said that his fore fathers left Pakistan because of voilence,its not true, he is Pakistani and be proud as a Pakistani.

App ko taasub kahan se nazr aa gia Janab ! Pakistan main Hindu, Sikh, Aisaie, sub sakoon se hain , Qadiani ko problem hai us lie keh woh abhi tak apne aap ko minority tasleem kerne ke lei tayaar nahi, wese masiela un ko bhai koi nahi hai.

 

[Citizen X]

I don't see the issue ? You are an American, you're parents were born in the US you are born the US i.e you are an American.